Multiple buckle release system

ABSTRACT

A buckle release system has a base plate, a fulcrum mounted on the base plate, a lever pivotably mounted on the fulcrum, a handle connected to one end of the lever, at least one cable mounted to the lever at a location remote from the handle, at least one buckle portion connected to the cable, and at least one mating buckle portion releasably connected to the one buckle portion. Pulling the handle pivots the lever and pulls the cables, causing the buckle portions to release from each other.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a system for releasing several bucklessimultaneously, using a single pull mechanism. The invention releasesseveral buckles that are each connected to a cable by using a lever thatcauses each of the cables to be pulled at the same time. The leverdecreases the force required to release the buckles, as compared to adirect pull on each of the cables.

2. The Prior Art

U.S. Pat. No. 6,487,761 to Van Tassel describes a buckle system wherethe buckle is released by pulling a cable that is attached to the malepart of the buckle. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/456,069 toAnscher, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference,shows a tactical vest having several buckles attached, which are alsoconnected to cables. A single pull on a central handle pulls all of thecables simultaneously to release all of the buckles at once. This ishighly advantageous when used on these types of vests, because the vestmust often be removed very quickly, such as in situations where the useris submerged in water.

One disadvantage of the systems shown in these two patents, however, isthat a significant amount of force is required to release the buckles.It would be desirable to provide a system that reduces the amount offorce required but avoids inadvertent release of the buckles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a system thatreduces the amount of force required to release a cable-mounted bucklesystem having multiple buckles. It is another object to provide a systemthat does not affect the structure or manufacture of the bucklesthemselves, and which can be adapted for use with one or severalbuckles. It is another object of the invention to provide a system thatis simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

These and other objects are accomplished by a buckle release systemcomprising a base plate, a fulcrum mounted on the base plate, a leverpivotably mounted on the fulcrum, a handle connected to the lever, atleast one cable mounted to the lever at a location remote from thehandle, a buckle portion connected to each cable, and a mating buckleportion releasably connected each buckle portion. Pulling the handlepivots the lever and pulls the cables, causing the buckle portions torelease from each other. A cover plate is also preferably mounted overthe entire assembly to prevent interference with the lever during use.

In a preferred embodiment, the cables are connected to male buckleportions, which are configured to release from the female buckleportions upon pulling of the cable. Examples of suitable buckle portionsare shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,487,761 to Van Tassel, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/456,069 to Anscher, and U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/661,308 to Anscher, all of which are herein incorporated byreference.

In practical use, there are at least two cables connected to the lever,and a buckle portion connected to each cable. This way, pivoting thelever by pulling the handle releases multiple buckles simultaneously.The use of the lever reduces the force required to release the buckles,as a greater distance from the fulcrum on the applied force size reducesthe amount of force required to move the lever. In one embodiment, thereare four cables with buckles connected to the lever. This embodimentallows the front and rear sections of a tactical vest to be instantlyseparated from each other if the system is mounted to either the frontor rear of the vest and the shoulder and waist sections of the vest areheld together with the buckles. Pulling on the handle causes all fourbuckles to release simultaneously and cause the vest to separate, thusinstantly freeing the wearer.

There are many possible configurations of levers and cables that arewithin the scope of this invention. In one embodiment, the lever is astraight bar and the fulcrum is located between the cable or cables andthe handle. Thus, the cables are at one end, the handle is at the otherend, and the fulcrum is in the middle. Pulling up on the handle causesthe end of the lever with the cables to move downward, thus pulling downon the cables and releasing the buckles attached thereto. Thus, in thisembodiment, the cables and handle move in opposite directions.

In another embodiment, the fulcrum is disposed at one end of the lever,the handle is disposed on an opposite end of the lever, and the cablesare disposed between the fulcrum and the lever. Pulling up on the levercauses the cables to be pulled upward also. This embodiment is useful ifthe cables need to be moved the same direction as the direction ofpulling on the handle.

The cables can be directly attached to the lever, or can be indirectlyconnected via an attachment mechanism. The attachment mechanism can beconfigured to receive one or several cables, and is then pivotallymounted to the lever at the desired location. The cables can be mountedin channels in the attachment mechanism. The channels prevent the cablesfrom crossing each other close to the lever and interfering with thelever operation. The pivoting of the attachment mechanism decreases theforce applied to the system due to cables coming in from differentdirections, and decreases the risk of breakage.

In another embodiment, there can be two or more attachment mechanismsconnected to the lever. This way, the attachment mechanisms can bemounted on opposite sides of the fulcrum, so that pulling the handlepulls some of the cables in the same direction, and pulls the other setof cables in the opposite direction. This is useful when the deviceaccording to the invention is mounted in between several buckles, someabove and some below the attachment mechanism. If the handle isconfigured to pull upward to move the lever, the buckles above theattachment mechanism can be mounted on the opposite side of the fulcrumfrom the handle and the buckles below the attachment mechanism can bemounted on the same side as the handle. This way, pulling the handleupward pulls the cables for the top buckles downward, and pulls thecables for the bottom buckles upward, to release all of the buckles atonce with a single movement. Alternatively, the cables can be directlymounted to the lever in this way, without using the attachmentmechanisms.

In another embodiment, the lever is L-shaped, and the fulcrum is locatedat an elbow of the lever. This allows the cables to be pulled in adirection that is perpendicular to the direction of pull on the handle.Thus, if the buckles are mounted horizontally, one can pull up or downon the handle to release the buckles in this configuration. The angle ofbend of the lever dictates the angle at which the cables are pulled.

In yet another embodiment, there is an additional lever connected to thefulcrum and the handle, and at least one cable and buckle portionconnected to the additional lever. Pulling the handle pivots both leversand pulls all of the cables connected to the levers. The two levers canbe mounted so that the single fulcrum is located between the connectionsof the handle to each of the levers, so that pulling the handle causesthe levers to rotate in opposite directions. This useful if the some ofthe cables need to be pulled up while other cables need to be pulleddown in order to release all of the buckles.

The levers in this embodiment can be simple straight levers, triangularshaped, or can be L-shaped and mounted facing away from each other. Withthe L-shaped levers, the fulcrum is located at an elbow of each of thelevers. This allows the cables that are connected to the other arm ofthe L to be pulled perpendicular to the direction of pulling of thehandle. In this embodiment, the handle is connected to each of the freeends of the levers that face away from each other, and the cables areconnected to the other ends of the levers. This works well in afour-buckle system, so that each lever is connected to two cables, andthe system releases four buckles simultaneously.

In this system, the fulcrum can be disposed between the handle and thetwo cables on each lever, so that both cables on an individual lever areon the same side of the lever and are moved in the same direction.Alternatively, the cables can be disposed on opposite sides of thefulcrum on each lever, so that the individual cables on each lever movein opposite directions when the handle is pulled. In this embodiment,two cables are pulled downward, while the other two are pulled inward,coming from opposite directions.

In yet another embodiment, there are two levers as described above, buteach lever has its own fulcrum. Both levers are connected to a singlehandle, so that pulling the handle moves both levers simultaneouslyaround their own fulcrums. In this embodiment, the levers can bestraight or L-shaped. With the L-shaped lever, the fulcrum is located atan elbow of each lever.

Again, the cables can be mounted on the same side of the lever from thefulcrum or can be disposed on opposite sides from each other on eachlever, depending on the desired direction of movement of the cables.

An important use for the system according to the invention is on atactical cut-away vest such as used by the military or law enforcement.Thus, the invention also encompasses a cut-away vest, comprising:

(a) a front vest piece having two shoulder sections and two waistsections;

(b) a rear vest piece having two shoulder sections and two waistsections;

(c) at least two buckle assemblies, each buckle assembly having a maleportion and a female portion, each of the male portions being attachedto one of the front and rear vest pieces at the shoulder sections andwaist sections, and each of the female portions being attached to theother of the front and rear vest pieces at the shoulder and waistsections respectively, so that the front vest piece is connected to therear vest piece by inserting each of the male portions into acorresponding female portion;

(d) a plurality of cables, each cable connected at one end to one of themale portions; and

(e) a buckle release system comprising:

-   -   (i) a base plate connected to the vest piece containing the male        buckle portions;    -   (ii) a fulcrum mounted on the base plate;    -   (iii) at least one lever pivotably mounted on the fulcrum,        wherein said cables are connected to the lever at a location        remote from the fulcrum; and    -   (iv) a handle connected to the lever;    -   wherein pulling the handle pivots the lever and pulls the        cables, causing the male buckle portions to release from the        female buckle portions.

The cut-away vest can be used with any of the variations of the releasesystems described above. There can be a single lever, or two levers, oneor two attachment systems, various ways of mounting the cables andhandles, and any number of desired cables. The system can be configuredin any desired orientation to best accommodate the number and locationof buckles on the vest.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparentfrom the following detailed description considered in connection withthe accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that thedrawings are designed as an illustration only and not as a definition ofthe limits of the invention.

In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similarelements throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a cut-away vest showing one embodiment ofthe system according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a cut-away vest with the system released;

FIG. 3 shows a view of the system used on the vest of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 shows a cut-away vest using another embodiment of thebuckle-release system according to the invention;

FIG. 5 shows a front view of the system used in the vest of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 shows a cut-away vest using a further embodiment of the systemaccording to the invention;

FIG. 7 shows the release system used in the vest according to FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows a cut-away vest using another embodiment of the systemaccording to the invention;

FIG. 9 shows the buckle release system used in the vest according toFIG. 8;

FIG. 10 shows yet another embodiment of the system according to theinvention;

FIG. 11 shows a cross-sectional view along lines 11-11 from FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 shows the system of FIG. 10 with a cover plate; FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 shows a cut-away vest using yet another embodiment of the systemaccording to the invention;

FIG. 14 shows the buckle release system used in the vest according toFIG. 12;

FIG. 15 shows a cut-away vest using another embodiment of the systemaccording to the invention;

FIG. 16 shows the buckle release system used in the vest according toFIG. 14;

FIG. 17 shows a cut-away vest using yet another embodiment of the systemaccording to the invention; and

FIG. 18 shows the buckle release system used in the vest of FIG. 17.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Referring now in detail to the drawings and, in particular, FIGS. 1 and2 show a cut-away vest 10 having a front section 11 and a rear section12. Front section 11 is connected to rear section 12 by a plurality ofmale buckle portions 13 on front section 11 which are snapped into acorresponding number of female buckle portions 14 mounted on straps 15on rear section 12. Each male buckle portion 13 is connected to a cable26 slidably disposed within a cable sheath 16. (Cable 26 is shown inFIG. 3). Underneath patch 17 on front section 11 is a release system 20,which is connected to all of the cables. Release system 20 is connectedto a cable 24 (shown in FIG. 3) surrounded by a cable sheath 22. Cable24 is connected to a handle 23. Pulling handle 23 pulls cables 26 andconsequently pulls male buckle portions 13. Male buckle portions 13 areconfigured such that a sharp pull on male buckle portions 13 causes theside locking legs of male buckle portions 13 to release from femalebuckle portions 14, in the manner taught in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 12/456,609. Thus, pulling on handle 23 releases male buckle portions13 from female buckle portions 14 to separate front section 11 from rearsection 12, as shown in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the entire arrangementcould be reversed, with the male buckle portions 13 and the releasesystem 20 mounted on rear section 12. The user would then reach behindhimself/herself to pull up on handle 23 to free themselves from thevest.

A first embodiment of release system 20 is shown in FIG. 3. Releasesystem 20 consists of a base plate 20 onto which a lever 25 is mountedvia fulcrum 27. Fulcrum 27 is mounted on one end of lever 25, and cable24 is connected to the other end of lever 25. An attachment assembly 30is pivotably mounted to lever 25 in between cable 24 and fulcrum 27.Each of cables 26 are mounted to attachment assembly 30, and areslidably disposed within cable sheaths 16. Cable sheaths 16 are disposedwithin channels 29 on base plate 21. Pulling upward on handle 23 in thedirection of the arrow causes lever 25 to pivot and pulls all of cables26 upward as well. This pulling motion, as explained above, pulls malebuckle portions 13 out of female buckle portions 14.

An alternative embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.FIG. 4 shows a tactical vest that is similar to the vest shown in FIGS.1 and 2, except that the handle is pulled downward instead of upward torelease buckle portions 13. FIG. 5 shows release assembly 201 that ismounted to the vest 10 in FIG. 4. This release system is similar to therelease system shown in FIG. 3, except that, fulcrum 27 is mounted inthe center of lever 25 with handle 23 on one side and attachmentassembly 30 on the opposite side of fulcrum 27. Pulling handle 23downward forces cables 26 upward to release buckle portions 13.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Here, thevest 10 of FIG. 6 is only separated at two places, and only two buckleassemblies are required. Release system 202 thus is only connected totwo cables 26, but could also be configured to be connected to severalmore. Here, release system 202 has a lever 35, which is configuredL-shaped, with lever arm 36 connected to cable 24, lever arm 37connected to attachment assembly 30, and fulcrum 27 mounted at the elbowof lever 35. While the first embodiment (shown in FIG. 3) showed theforce being transferred in the same direction of pull on the handle andthe second embodiment (shown in FIG. 5) showed the force in the oppositedirection, this embodiment shows the cables being pulled perpendicularto the direction of pull on handle 23. Pulling upward on handle 23causes lever 36 to pivot around fulcrum 27 and moves cables 26 to theleft, in the direction of the arrow shown. This embodiment is useful ifall of the buckles are located on one side of the object to be released,such as in the vest of FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 6, handle 23 can bemounted up near the shoulder of the vest, which is often a convenientplace for the wear to reach with an opposite hand. The angle of lever 35dictates the direction that the pulling force will be exerted on cables26. Thus, the lever could be manufactured to accommodate a pulling forceon the cables at any desired angle to the direction of pull on thehandle.

A further embodiment of the release system according to the invention isshown in FIGS. 8 and 9. Here, cable 24 with handle 23 is mounted to oneend of lever 25, and there are two attachment assemblies 30, 30′. Oneattachment assembly 30 is mounted to the opposite end of lever 35, sothat fulcrum 27 is in between handle 23 and attachment assembly 30, andthe other attachment assembly 30′ is mounted on the same side of lever25 as handle 23. This way, pulling up on handle 23 pivots lever 25 andpulls the cables on attachment assembly 30 downward, and pulls thecables on attachment assembly 30′ upward at the same time. Thus, thisembodiment is a combination of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 3 and 5.This embodiment is useful if the placement of the buckles requires thatthe cables be pulled in opposite directions at the same time in order torelease all of the buckles at once. The vest of FIG. 8 shows thelocation of cables 16, with some extending from the top of patch 17,while others extend from the bottom of patch 17. Pulling on handle 23releases all four buckle assemblies at once. This embodiment could alsobe used with more or fewer buckle assemblies, depending on the needs ofthe user.

Yet another embodiment of the system is shown in FIGS. 10-12. Thisembodiment can be used on the same vest arrangement that is shown inFIGS. 1 and 2. Here, release system 204 has two levers 45, 45′ that aretriangular in shape, but could also take other shapes. Each lever 45,45′ is mounted on single fulcrum 27, which is disposed at one of thecorners of each of the triangular levers. Connected to handle 23 are twocables 24, 24′, both disposed within cable sheath 22. Each of cables 24,24′ are connected to another corner of lever 45, 45′. Near the thirdcorner of each of levers 45, 45′ are disposed two cables 26, for a totalof four cables, and thus four buckles. Fewer or more cables and bucklescould also be used. Pulling upward on handle 23 causes levers 45, 45′ torotate in opposite directions (as shown by the arrows), thus pulling allof cables 26 upward as well, and releasing all of the buckle assembliesconnected to cables 26. As shown in FIG. 11, levers 45, 45′ are mountedon fulcrum 27 in a way that a portion of lever 45′ overlaps a portion oflever 45, with these portions having a combined height that is equal tothe height of the levers, so that they rest flush in the base plate.

For all embodiments discussed in this invention, the system can beequipped with a cover plate 50 that can be mounted on base plate 20, asshown in FIG. 12. Cover plate 50 can protect release system 50 againstdirt and interference from surrounding objects.

Yet another embodiment of the release system according to the inventionis shown in FIGS. 13 and 14. In this system 205, there are two L-shapedlevers 35, 35′, each with their own fulcrum 27, 27′, respectively. Thisarrangement is a double version of the embodiment shown in FIG. 7.Fulcrums 27, 27′ are mounted at the elbow of each of the levers. Cables24, 24′ are connected to a single handle 23 at one end and are connectedto legs 36, 36′, respectively of levers 35, 35′. Cables 26, which areconnected to male buckle portions 14 (not shown in this Figure) are thenmounted to arms 37, 37′ of levers 35, 35′. Pulling downward on handle 23rotates levers 35, 35′ in opposite directions from each other, i.e.,lever 35 rotates counter-clockwise, and lever 35′ rotates clockwise.This pulling motion causes cables 26 on arm 37′ to be pulled to theleft, and cables 26 on arm 37 to be pulled to the right. This is aconvenient arrangement when there are cables mounted on opposite sidesof the release system, which need to be pulled in opposite directions inorder to be released. As shown in FIG. 13, the buckles on the right ofthe vest are released by the cables being pulled to the left and thebuckles on the left of the vest are released by the cables being pulledto the right, all with a single downward pull of the handle. Of course,the entire arrangement could be turned upside down if the user desiresan upward pull on the handle instead.

Another embodiment of the release system according to the invention isshown in FIGS. 15 and 16. This system 206 is similar to the system shownin FIGS. 10 and 11, except that levers 35, 35′ are L-shaped rather thantriangular. In this embodiment, both levers 35, 35′ are mounted on asingle fulcrum 27, which is located at the elbow of each of the levers.Two cables 24, 24′ are connected to the ends of each of lever arms 36,36′, which extend in opposite directions from each other. Cables 26 arethen attached to the ends of each of lever arms 37, 37′. Here, there aretwo cables 26 connected to each lever arm 37, 37′. Larger or smallernumbers of cables and buckles could also be used. Pulling downward onhandle 23 pivots levers 35, 35′ so that lever 35 rotates counterclockwise and lever 35′ rotates clockwise. This causes cables 26 onlever 35′ to be pulled to the right, and cables 26 on lever 35 to bepulled to the left. Thus, as shown in the vest 10 of FIG. 15, the cableson the right side of the vest are pulled to the left, and the cables onthe left side of the vest are pulled to the right, all with a singlepull of handle 23.

Yet another embodiment of the release system according to the inventionis shown in FIGS. 17 and 18. Here, release system 207 is almostidentical to release system 206, except that one cable 26 is connectedto lever arm 37, 37′ and another cable 26 is connected to lever arm 36,36′ of each lever 35, 35′. The cables connected to lever arms 36, 36′are mounted between cables 24, 24′ for handle 23, and fulcrum 27. Thus,pulling handle 23 downward causes the cables on lever arms 36, 36′ to bepulled downward as well, while the cable on lever arm 37 is pulled tothe left, and the cable on lever arm 37′ is pulled to the right. This isan ideal arrangement for the vest shown in FIG. 17, where two of thebuckles are to be pulled downward, and one buckle is to be pulled to theleft, and one to the right. The system of FIG. 18 makes the angle of thecable pull coincide with the direction of the buckle release. Thus, thisembodiment eliminates the need for any excess force to release thebuckles when the angle of cable pull does not exactly coincide with therelease direction of the buckles.

While the embodiments shown in the drawings indicate the cable beingpulled in a direction that is either up or down, any of the embodimentscould be turned upside down to have the handle pull in the oppositedirection. These systems could be used with any number of buckleassemblies, depending on the needs of the user.

Accordingly, while only a few embodiments of the present invention havebeen shown and described, it is obvious that many changes andmodifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

1. A buckle release system comprising: a base plate; a fulcrum mountedon the base plate; a lever pivotably mounted on the fulcrum; a handlemounted to the lever; at least one cable mounted to the lever; at leastone buckle portion connected to the at least one cable; and at least onemating buckle portion releasably connected to said at least one buckleportion; wherein pulling the handle pivots the lever and pulls said atleast one cable, causing the buckle portions to release from each other.2. The system according to claim 1, wherein there are at least twocables connected to the lever, and two buckle portions.
 3. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the fulcrum is located between the atleast one cable and the handle.
 4. The system according to claim 1,wherein the at least one cable is disposed between the fulcrum and thehandle.
 5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a coverplate disposed on top of the base plate and covering the lever.
 6. Thesystem according to claim 3, wherein the lever is L-shaped, and thefulcrum is located at an elbow of the lever.
 7. The system according toclaim 2, wherein at least one of the cables is connected to the lever onone side of the fulcrum, and at least one other of the cables isconnected to the lever on an opposite side of the fulcrum, such thatpulling on the handle pulls the cables on opposite sides of the fulcrumin opposite directions.
 8. The system according to claim 1, furthercomprising an additional lever connected to the fulcrum and the handle,and at least one cable and buckle portion connected to the additionallever, such that pulling the handle pivots both levers and pulls all ofthe cables connected to the levers.
 9. The system according to claim 8,wherein the fulcrum is located between connections of the handle to eachof the levers, so that pulling the handle causes the levers to pivot indifferent directions from one another.
 10. The system according to claim9, wherein the levers are L-shaped and wherein the fulcrum is located atan elbow of each of the levers.
 11. The system according to claim 10,wherein the handle is connected to one end of each of the levers. 12.The system according to claim 11, wherein each lever is connected to twocables, so that the system releases four buckles simultaneously.
 13. Thesystem according to claim 12, wherein the fulcrum is disposed betweenthe handle and the two cables on each lever.
 14. The system according toclaim 13, wherein the cables on each lever are disposed on oppositesides of the fulcrum from each other.
 15. The system according to claim1, further comprising an additional lever connected to the handle, andat least one cable and buckle portion connected to the additional lever,wherein each lever pivots on a separate fulcrum, such that pulling thehandle pivots both levers and pulls all of the cables connected to thelevers.
 16. The system according to claim 15, wherein each lever isL-shaped and the fulcrum is located at an elbow of each lever.
 17. Thesystem according to claim 16, wherein each lever is connected to two ofsaid cables with buckles, such that pulling the handle releases all fourbuckles simultaneously.
 18. The system according to claim 17, whereinboth cables of each lever are disposed on a same side of the leverrelative to the fulcrum.
 19. The system according to claim 1, furthercomprising channels on the base plate for receiving the cables, whereinthe cables slide within the channels when the handle is pulled.
 20. Acut-away vest comprising: (a) a front vest piece having two shouldersections and two waist sections; (b) a rear vest piece having twoshoulder sections and two waist sections; (c) at least two buckleassemblies, each buckle assembly having a male portion and a femaleportion, each of the male portions being attached to one of the frontand rear vest pieces at least one of the shoulder sections and at leastone of the waist sections, and each of the female portions beingattached to the other of the front and rear vest pieces, one at each ofthe shoulder sections and waist sections respectively, so that the frontvest piece is connected to the rear vest piece by inserting each of themale portions into a corresponding female portion; (d) a plurality ofcables, each cable connected at one end to one of the male portions, andhaving a second end; and (e) buckle release system comprising: (i) abase plate connected to the vest piece containing the male buckleportions; (ii) a fulcrum mounted on the base plate; (iii) at least onelever pivotably mounted on the fulcrum, wherein said cables areconnected to the at least one lever; and (iv) a handle connected to thelever; wherein pulling the handle pivots the lever and pulls saidcables, causing the male buckle portions to release from the femalebuckle portions.
 21. The cut-away vest according to claim 20, whereinthe buckle release system has two of said levers, with cables connectedto each of the levers.